Recap in Crayon: MusicFestNW, Day 1

 MusicFestNW is like Portland's version of SXSW; there are a ton of shows at a ton of venues all over the city  for 6 days. I’ll be covering the shows I can make it to. But since I don’t have access to a camera, I will use my 3rd-grade-level artistic skills, along with a box of crayons, to try to capture the essence of each show.Day one of the festival didn't have too big of a lineup (shows only going on in 2 venues), or any big bands. So, it’s a little bit of a light jog for the festival’s first lap. But like most light jogs, it was enjoyable. 

Summer Cannibals

Portland’s own Summer Cannibals opened up the night at the Dante's stage and kicked things off with some salty garage pop. The mostly-female band seemed pretty thrilled to be playing the fest and that gave the show a good energy. However, they played their set pretty quickly without much adornment and ended up finishing a few minutes early. It was an enjoyable show, though, and since they’re a Portland band, hopefully I’ll get to see them again in the next 3 months.

Black Bananas

Following Summer Cannibals was the new Jennifer Herrema project, Black Bananas. The music was definitely interesting -- loud, thrashy electronic stoner-rock – and sounded like a really drunk Sleigh Bells. The highlight of the show was easily Herrema’s intoxication level. She could not even say anything coherent when she tried to speak to the crowd between songs. Somehow, though, she managed to pull herself together while singing each song and only come off as very drunk, which I guess works for this music. The crowd was not very receptive to the band, maybe they needed to be as drunk as Herrema was.

Redd Kross

Closing out the night at Dante’s was Redd Kross, a faded hard rock/power pop group who had their heyday in the mid to late 80’s. This description is what I had in mind going into the show, so I wasn't really expecting much. To my surprise, though, they put on a pretty amazing set. They had a lot more energy and enthusiasm than the other two much younger bands. These guys were all in their 50's. The lead singer had a fantastic glam-rock flamboyance to him and claimed he was channeling "the razzmatazz of Liza Minnelli." He had a box of tissues to wipe the sweat from his face and kept flipping his long wispy hair. It was a good end to night one of the festival.